Dating apps once ran on novelty. For some users, the fun is over.

livemint.com:

As online-dating apps court new and younger audiences, some of their marketing efforts are turning off daters instead. Bumble last month apologized for ads making light of women so frustrated with online dating that they would consider celibacy. The League, a dating app targeting “the overly ambitious," was called “ick-inducing" for its recent ad campaign, which included taglines like “Date someone with a 5-year-plan that makes you want to ovulate." And Hinge’s yearslong “Designed to Be Deleted" campaign has started to fall flat for longtime users still looking for love on their phones.

Online dating continues to play a lead role in the romantic lives of millions of Americans. Around half of all U.S. adults under 30 have used a dating site or app at some point in their lives, and one in 10 adults with partners say they met their significant other by dating online, according to Pew Research Center data.

And the industry’s biggest players, Match Group and Bumble, now generate annual revenues north of $3.4 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively. But the ad campaigns have high stakes for online dating companies trying to achieve the right mix of user acquisition and pricing power to reinterest Wall Street in a saturated sector. Online-dating growth has been slowing.

Paying users declined 6% in the first quarter of the year at Match Group, whose portfolio includes the League, Tinder and Hinge, compared with a 3% dip in the first quarter of 2023. The Bumble app grew paying users 18% in the first quarter, compared with 31% growth in the period a year earlier. Shares in both have fallen this year even as the S&P 500 rose.